Miles From Home is a deeply personal story and a narrative of the American dream. Born to a devoted mother and severely alcoholic father, Phillip Lee Woods was sent as an 11 year old to live with a taciturn grandfather on a lonely farm in Indiana's countryside. Doing backbreaking chores from daybreak to dark and walking a long, deserted road to catch the bus, Woods' school years were marked by toil, embarrassment about his circumstances, and a yearning to reunite with his mother and sister. Living in an isolated farmhouse with no indoor plumbing, no phone, and little heat, Woods and his grandfather helped each other to survive. These challenging early experiences helped the young Woods become a determined, perseverant man. Woods started out as a postal clerk, and despite not having a college education, he went on to found his own successful insurance business, Woods Grooms, Inc. Along the way, he married his favorite post office patron and had a family of his own. His climb to ultimat